LS 4 3 4 Thursday

Fed the ferals, cleaned the baby's eyes again, then cooked myself dinner. I ate it before it got cold, too!

Then I went outside to pamper the cherry tomatoes - I'm telling you, next year? NO! One, maybe two plants ... but never again the whole bed full! I'm thinking of giving 'upside down' planters a try, next year. You're supposed to use 1 x 20L buckets (approx. 5 gallons) per plant, but I'm going to give them a 1.5L bottle. See how that works. They probably won't grow as much - or maybe the roots start climbing out the top? Ha Ha!

I don't particularly LIKE cherry tomatoes - well, they're okay, I enjoy them sometimes, but not as the ONLY tomatoes! The plum tomatoes that grew in one of the pots were much lovelier! I tried growing them, this year, but they didn't survive the cat cuddling.

I also want more variety vegetables, not just green bell pepper and tomatoes. The gem squash are a nice addition - but I want even more. I have the seeds, I just need to get them into the garden - after I've cleared a bed ... and that's the problem. All beds are covered with cherry tomatoes!

I think, this weekend, I must spend some time in the garden, clearing beds and then plant! Though, they're forecasting a lot of rain ... I'll have to see what I can do.

Went to get groceries. Overspent. Again! By 14%. Got more chicken hearts. Mango, carrot and yellow plums were on special (though they made a mistake and charged me regular for the plums), I 'treated' myself to butternut and celery. And I bought 1kg rice - I really like the brown and wild rice.

I looked at broccoli and cauliflower ... yeah ... I really must grow some! Winter is their time, at least winter here.

I didn't buy any chicken for my paella, though ... I'll have a rummage through my chest freezer for inspiration.

Okay, I think I know what I'll do: Saturday, I fry the chicken hearts and the chicken I bought for the ferals - mine get their share, too, of course! And Sunday I'll bake the butternut with carrots and potatoes topped with the slices of prime rib I still have in the freezer. Which I bought because it's so cheap, but when I looked up how to cook it - can't just fry it.

As long as we don't go to any higher stages, load shedding Saturday & Sunday should be 08:00 - 10:30 and again 16:00 - 18:30. Oh, and during the night, of course ... pffft!

The machine takes an hour for my laundry, I'll have that finished before load shedding on Saturday. As long as I turn on the geyser early, I can wash dishes during load shedding, and then just need to fry, mince, and wash again. I should be done by noon - giving me the rest of the day to play in the garden! Weather permitting, of course. If it rains, I can sow herbs in pots and tidy up the veranda.

Sunday, I can only start the bread machine after load shedding, if I don't want my dough to rise up and revolt again. While the machine is going, I can prepare the meat & veg, and also another batch of tomato puree. I should probably spend the morning in the garden, then come in to work after load shedding ...

This power outage last Sunday afternoon, together with the next one Monday and the 18:00 - 20:30 load shedding every evening has really messed up my entire week! Plus, of course, I have all the dishes I would have washed Sunday afternoon ... taking over the kitchen ... to be washed Saturday.

It's me and the multi cooker again ... reading reviews, pros and cons, I keep coming down to the same two choices. And the price has already gone up, since I last checked ... when was that? Monday? Temperatures have gone down, so stew makers are in higher demand!

So, the two I'm trying to decide between are now practically the same price. One, though is still 30% off, and the other one 10%. The more expensive one (at full price) (A) has 8 functions, the cheaper one (B) 10. (A) has temperature control, whereas (B) has 3 settings. (B) has 83% 5-star reviews, whereas (A) has 72%. (A) has a maximum 2-hour timer, whereas (B) has up to 24 hours. (B) is a pressure cooker - roast a whole chicken in 25 minutes; in the oven it takes 90 minutes! (A) has a deep-fry function, I don't think (B) has that. But I've discovered that the deep steel frying pan works perfectly, and that works on the induction plate.

And, after all, in all the years I've had it, last month was the first time ever that I tried deep frying! Pity that it broke the pot ... even though it's one of its functions! But hey, I inherited it from my mum! So it's at least 15 years old!

From what I've read, I understand that (B) at least works with induction heating. I'm not sure about (A), but I suppose it works on the same. Now that's better than the multi cooker I had.

Yeah ... I think I've made my choice. Now for the tricky part: Budget! I'll leave that one for tomorrow ...  It's quarter to five. All this reading through cooking has made me hungry!

One of the main reasons I'm leaning to heavily towards a pressure cooker, though, is that the cheaper cuts of meat can be cooked in a pressure cooker. Basically anything that would need an oven - and oven uses far more electricity than high pressure cooking does!

I considered a slow cooker - but (B) can also do slow cooking, if I want. Oh, and it's a yoghurt maker - ha ha ha! Maybe it's time I actually do make some yoghurt!

I downloaded both user manual and recipe booklet specifically for (B) and recipes include lime juice AND cheese! Both of which I'm wary of using in ANY pot! So ... yeah ... I think I'm sold. It's just a matter of finding money, now ... ha ha!

Well, two minutes to five. At least load shedding tonight will be over 18:30 at the latest!